Select committee: Defence Committee
Conclusion 8
4th Report – The Armed Forces Covenant
Published 8 Apr 2025
Addressed to Ministry of Defence
Defence Committee The Armed Forces Covenant All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Government is right to recognise that the existing Covenant Duty does not reach into many areas of life in which the service community faces disadvantage, and to consider expanding the scope of the Covenant Legal Duty. As noted in the previous chapter, extending the Legal Duty will only achieve meaningful results if it is also deliverable. The extension of the Duty must therefore be co-designed with those who will be bound by it and expected to deliver it, and they must be appropriately resourced to enable them to do so. Otherwise there is a risk that existing commitments will be diluted and that those who deliver the Covenant will only be able to provide the bare minimum of support. Such an outcome would let down the forces community. (Conclusion, Paragraph 30)
From: Defence Committee, 4th Report – The Armed Forces Covenant (HC 572), 8 April 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 16 June 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The MOD agrees with the Committee's main conclusions on the Armed Forces Covenant and accepts the recommendations on extending the Covenant Legal Duty and on data collection, while stating that UK-wide minimum standards 'would not be appropriate'.
- The MOD agrees with the conclusions at Paragraphs 13 and 20 and recognises that application of the Covenant principles 'varies across the UK'.
- On a strategy for consistent application, it says the Legal Duty is 'deliberately flexible and does not mandate outcomes', and that UK-wide minimum standards would not be appropriate. It will provide training materials, webinars, downloadable resources and updated statutory guidance.
- It accepts the recommendation to extend the Duty to all government departments and the devolved governments. Officials are 'currently developing plans' for this, and it acknowledges the extension will place 'additional strain' on departments and local authorities.
- It accepts the recommendation on data collection, says the evidence available is 'limited', and will hold the next Covenant conference in July 2025. On departmental reporting it will 'engage with OGDs to consider how best they can report'.